Dell Compellent Storage Center

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Dell Compellent Storage

Center

How to Setup a Microsoft Windows

Server 2012 Failover Cluster

Reference Guide

Dell Compellent Technical Solutions Group

January 2013

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THIS BEST PRACTICES GUIDE IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS AND TECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.

© 2012 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this material in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden. For more information, contact Dell.

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1 Preface

1.1 Audience

The audience for this document is system administrators who are responsible for the setup and maintenance of Windows servers and associated storage. Readers should have a working knowledge of Windows and the Dell Compellent Storage Center.

1.2 Purpose

This document provides an overview of Failover Clustering and additional guidance for the process of setting up and configuring a Failover Cluster on Windows Server 2012 when using the Dell Compellent Storage Center.

1.3 Customer Support

Dell Compellent provides live support 1-866-EZSTORE (866.397.8673), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. For additional support, email Dell Compellent at

[email protected]. Dell Compellent responds to emails during normal business hours.

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2 Introduction to Windows Server 2012

Failover Clustering

2.1 Overview

Window Server 2012 Failover Clustering provides the capability to tie multiple servers together to offer high availability and scalability for business-critical applications such as Microsoft Exchange, Hyper-V, Microsoft SQL Server, and file servers. Clustering is designed to maintain data integrity and provide failover support. Windows Server 2012 Failover Clustering can scale up 64 nodes in a single cluster.

Windows Server 2012 Failover Clustering includes new and changed functionality from the prior release included in Windows Server 2008 R2. This functionality supports increased scalability, continuously available file-based server application storage, easier management, faster failover, and more flexible architectures for failover clusters. For a complete list of changes and new features included in Windows Server 2012 Failover Clustering, please refer to Microsoft TechNet.

Failover Clustering is included in both the Standard and Datacenter versions of Windows Server 2012.

2.2 Active/Active Clusters

In active/active clusters, all nodes are active. In the event of a failover, the remaining active node takes on the additional processing operations, which causes a reduction in the overall performance of the cluster. Active/passive cluster configurations are generally

recommended over active/active configurations because they often increased performance, availability, and scalability. Microsoft Exchange 2013 and SQL Server 2012 support a

configuration that falls into the realm of what would be considered as an active/active cluster configuration. These particular configurations will not be discussed as they are beyond the scope of this document. For detailed information about Microsoft Exchange 2013 and SQL Server 2012 clustering, please refer to Dell Compellent Knowledge Center.

2.3 Active/Passive Clusters

In active/passive clustering, the cluster includes active nodes and passive nodes. The passive nodes are only used if an active node fails. Active/Passive clusters are commonly known as failover clusters. For example, file and print environments use the active/passive cluster

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2.4 Quorum Configurations

The following information on quorums contains information taken from the Microsoft TechNet article entitled: “Configure and Manage the Quorum in a Windows Server 2012 Failover Cluster”

The quorum for a cluster is determined by the number of voting elements that must be part of active cluster membership for that cluster to start properly or continue running. By default, every node in the cluster has a single quorum vote. In addition, a quorum witness (when configured) has an additional single quorum vote. You can configure one quorum witness for each cluster. A quorum witness can be a designated disk resource or a file share resource.

Each element can cast one “vote” to determine whether the cluster can run. Whether a cluster has quorum to function properly is determined by the majority of the voting elements in the active cluster membership.

To increase the high availability of the cluster, and the roles that are hosted on that cluster, it is important to set the cluster quorum configuration appropriately.

The cluster quorum configuration has a direct effect on the high availability of the cluster, for the following reasons:



Be aware that the full function of a cluster depends on quorum in addition to the following factors:



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For example, a cluster that has five nodes can have quorum after two nodes fail. However, each remaining node would serve clients only if it had enough capacity to support the clustered roles that failed over to it and if the role settings prioritized the most important workloads.

The cluster software automatically configures the quorum for a new cluster, based on the number of nodes configured and the availability of shared storage. This is usually the most appropriate quorum configuration for that cluster. However, it is a good idea to review the quorum configuration after the cluster is created, before placing the cluster into production.

To view the detailed cluster quorum configuration, you can you use the Validate a

Configuration Wizard to run the Validate Quorum Configuration test. In Failover Cluster Manager, the basic quorum configuration is displayed in the summary information for the selected cluster.

The following quorum types are available in Windows Server 2012 Failover Clustering:

Node majority (no witness)

Only nodes have votes. No quorum witness is configured. The cluster quorum is the majority of voting nodes in the active cluster membership.

Node majority with witness (disk or file share)

Nodes have votes. In addition, a quorum witness has a vote. The cluster quorum is the majority of voting nodes in the active cluster membership plus a witness vote.

A quorum witness can be a designated disk witness or a designated file share witness.

No majority (disk witness only)

No nodes have votes. Only a disk witness has a vote. The cluster quorum is determined by the state of the disk witness.

The cluster has quorum if one node is available and communicating with a specific disk in the cluster storage. Generally, this mode is not recommended, and it should not be selected because it creates a single point of failure for the cluster.

2.5 Using MPIO with Microsoft Failover Clusters

Using MPIO with clustering is supported in both round-robin and failover-only

configurations. Windows Server 2012 automatically defaults Compellent Storage Center volumes to a “round-robin” MPIO configuration.

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Refer to the Dell Compellent Microsoft MPIO Best Practices Guide for more information on configuring MPIO in Windows Server 2012.

3 Network Configuration

3.1 Public Interface

The public interface contains the IP address of the server as it would be accessed over the network. It should contain the specific subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS server addresses for accessing the network.

Note: If possible, the public interface for cluster traffic should be on a dedicated NIC, separate from the NIC accessed for server management. A specific adapter can be selected for cluster traffic after a cluster has been set up.

Figure 1: Network Connections

3.2 Private Interface

The private interface is reserved for cluster communications and is commonly referred to as the “heartbeat”. In a two node cluster, a standard RJ-45 cable can be used to directly

connect the first node to the second node. In a larger cluster configuration, a separate subnet or private network should be dedicated as a switch will have to be used for these cluster communications. Because cluster communications require minimal bandwidth, a 10 Mbps half-duplex connection is all that is required.

It is common practice to use the 10.x.x.x network for the private interface. Below is an example of how to configure the TCP/IP settings of the private interface:

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Figure 2: IP Settings Figure 3: Advanced DNS Settings

Figure 4: Advanced WINS Settings

Referring to Figures 2 – 4 above, please note the following configuration settings:



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3.3 NIC Teaming

By default, the create cluster process will automatically create a public and private cluster network based upon the IP address assigned to the cluster. The NIC adapters assigned to each network are automatically assigned based upon the subnet assigned to each adapter.

In cases where there are two or more adapters on each node that belong to the same subnet, the cluster will only use one of the adapters on each node to allow access from the public network. In order to use more than one adapter on the same subnet in the cluster, the adapters need to be teamed prior to cluster creation. In Windows Server 2012, NICs can be teamed via software from the NIC manufacturer (such as Intel or Broadcom), or through the built-in load balancing and failover option (LBFO) within the operating system. For more information on LBFO, please refer to Microsoft TechNet.

4 Setup and Configuration

4.1 Prerequisites

The following are required to successfully configure Failover Clustering:

 Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter Edition that is a domain member

 Compellent Storage Center

 Properly zoned Fibre or iSCSI connectivity

 Two Ethernet ports (min. one for public and one for private connectivity)

 One static IP address for public network connectivity

4.2 Server Configuration

Identify the server that will be the first node in the new cluster. This will be referred to as Node 1 in this document.

It is required that this server is a member of a domain. To form a cluster, cluster nodes must be domain member servers.

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4.3 Installing the Failover Clustering Feature

This process must be followed on each node. To install Failover Clustering:

Figure 5: Server Manager

Figure 6: Add Roles and Features Wizard

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Figure 7: Select Installation type

Figure 8: Select destination server

Figure 9: Select server roles

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Figure 10: Select features

Figure 11: Add Roles and Features Wizard

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10.

Figure 12: Confirm installation selections

Figure 13: Installation progress

Figure 14: Completed installation

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5 Creating a New Cluster

5.1 Cluster Setup

The Failover Cluster Management MMC is used to create failover clusters, validate hardware for potential failover clusters, and perform configuration changes to failover clusters. To create a new cluster:

 

Figure 15: Failover Cluster Manager

3.

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Figure 17: Select Servers

Figure 18: Validation Warning

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Figure 19: Validate a Configuration Wizard

Figure 20: Testing Options

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Figure 22: Summary

Figure 23: Cluster Access Point

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Note: By enabling the Add all eligible storage to the cluster checkbox, all storage that is presented to both nodes of the cluster and formatted with NTFS will be added to the cluster available storage pool.

Figure 25: Summary

5.2 Cluster Validate

Historically, cluster configurations (Windows 2000 and Windows 2003) had to be certified through the Windows Hardware Quality Lab (WHQL) in order to be approved and eligible for support by Microsoft. Starting with Windows Server 2008, the Cluster Validate tool has been included with the Operating System to test the functionality and compatibility of the servers and storage involved in a cluster. This tool verifies that the storage meets the requirements (supports specific commands) to operate in a failover cluster. The end-user can run Cluster Validate and save the output as proof of supportability for the configuration.

It is Dell Compellent’s best practices recommendation that Cluster Validate be performed on any cluster configuration that uses Dell Compellent Storage Center to ensure the customer can receive Microsoft Premier Support should a cluster issue arise.

Cluster Validate is a wizard-driven tool in Failover Cluster Manager that can be run as part of configuring a new cluster or at any time thereafter. The Cluster Validate tool assumes that the storage is attached and accessible by all nodes participating in the test.

5.3 Configure Cluster Quorum

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using Disk Management. Initialize the LUN, create the partition and format with NTFS.

Standard practice is to assign the drive letter Q: to the quorum volume.

Figure 26: Disk Manager

This example demonstrates how to change the cluster quorum configuration to Node and Disk Majority. To change quorum type, or modify quorum configuration settings:

Figure 27: Configure Cluster Quorum Settings

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Figure 28: Configure Cluster Quorum Wizard

Figure 29: Select Quorum Configuration Option

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Figure 31: Configure Storage Witness

Figure 32: Confirmation

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6 Adding Disks to a Cluster

Adding disks to the cluster is a simple process once the new volume has been created on the Dell Compellent Storage Center and then mapped to each node of the cluster. Complete the following steps from either node to add a new disk (or disks) to the cluster:

 

Figure 34: Disk Manager

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Figure 36: Bring disk online

Figure 37: Not initialized

Figure 38: Initialize disk

Figure 39: Disk online

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Figure 40: New Simple volume

Figure 41: New Simple Volume Wizard

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Figure 43: Assign Drive Letter

Figure 44: Format Partition

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Figure 46: Available disk

Figure 47: Failover Cluster Manager

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6.

Figure 49: Available Cluster Disks

7 High Availability

In previous versions of Windows clustering, cluster groups contained the resource necessary to manage failover and determined how failover was handled. In Windows Server 2008/R2 failover clustering, cluster groups were referred to as “Services and Applications”. In

Windows Server 2012, highly available services and applications are referred to as “Roles”.

Examples of a highly available cluster role might be a file server, WINS, or a virtual machine.

It should be noted that in order to add a role to the cluster, that role or feature must already be installed on each node of the cluster. For example, in order to add the File Server role to the cluster, the File Server role must be installed from the Add Roles and Features Wizard on each node of the cluster.

Note: Windows Server 2012 includes many enhancements for clustering Hyper-V and virtual machines. For detailed information on how to install, configure and administer Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V clustering, please refer to the Dell Compellent Storage Center Best Practices for Hyper-V Guide on Knowledge Center.

7.1 Creating a High Availability File Server

In this example, we’ll use a disk that has been added to the cluster to create a highly available file server.

1.

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Figure 50: Configure Role

2.

Figure 51: High Availability Wizard

3. Select File Server from the list of available roles. Click Next.

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4. Select File Server for general use. Click Next.

Figure 53: File Server Type

5. Enter a name that clients will use to access the file server. Enter a unique IP address for the file server. Click Next.

Figure 54: Client Access Point

6. Select an available storage volume to assign to the file server cluster. Click Next.

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7. Confirm settings and click Next.

Figure 56: Confirm Settings

8. Click Finish on the Summary screen.

Figure 57: Summary

9. Once the file server role configuration has completed, the server, network access point and assigned storage will be visible in Failover Cluster Manager.

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7.2 Provision a Shared Folder for the File Server

Provisioning of shared folders on the cluster volumes that are contained in the file server cluster is required to provide failover of these resources in the event of a node or service failure. Follow these steps to provision a shared (SMB) folder in the file server cluster:

1. In Failover Cluster Manager, expand the cluster, click on Roles, right-click on the file server, and choose Add File Share.

Figure 59: Context Menu

2. The New Share Wizard appears. Select SMB Share – Advanced, and click Next.

Note: By choosing the Advanced option, enhanced configuration settings such as data classification and quota management are available through the new share wizard. Also note that in order to select the Advanced option, the File Server Resource Manager Role must be installed on both nodes of the cluster.

Figure 60: New Share Wizard

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3. Select the server and path for the share. Select Next when complete.

Figure 61: Select server path

4. Enter a Share name and click Next.

Figure 62: Specify share name

5. Configure Share settings. Click Next to continue.

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6. Specify share permissions for SMB-based access to the folder. Click Next.

Figure 64: Specify permissions

7. (Optional) select the type of data that will be stored on the share. Enter an email address to be notified when denied users request access to the folder. Click Next.

Figure 65: Folder management properties

8. If desired, apply a quota to the share. Click Next to continue.

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9. Confirm selections and click Create to add the share to the clustered file server.

Figure 67: Confirm selections

10. View share creation results. Click Close to exit.

Figure 68: View results

11. The new share is visible in the Shares Tab in the Roles window of File Server Manager.

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8 Administrative Tasks

8.1 Testing Failover/Moving Roles

Short of pulling the power on one of your nodes to test the failover capabilities, you can use Failover Cluster Manager to move the Role from one node to another.

To move a configured Role to another node:

1. From Failover Cluster Manager, expand the cluster, and highlight Roles. In the Roles window, right-click the Role to failover and then choose Move, then Select Node.

Figure 70: Move context menu

2. Select the node to move the Role to, and click OK.

Figure 71: Move Clustered Role

3. The Role will move to the other node. Verify the owner node in the Roles window:

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Figure 72: Verify owner node

8.2 Cluster-Aware Updating

New to Windows Server 2012, Cluster-Aware Update (CAU) is an automated feature that allows you to update clustered servers with little or no loss in availability during the update process. During an Updating Run, CAU transparently performs the following tasks:



 



CAU is a powerful feature that can be scheduled on regular, daily, weekly, or monthly intervals.

8.3 Windows PowerShell

As with previous versions of Windows Server, Windows Server 2012 includes Failover Cluster Cmdlets to allow for the installation, configuration and administration of failover clustering from within PowerShell. For a complete listing of all available Failover Clustering Cmdlets, please refer to Microsoft TechNet.

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